Enabling with a brown van

Attention all victims of drunk driving: the brown van, complete with disoriented drunks behind the wheel, is back. How’s that for a slap in the face DUI victims? For my wife, whose brother was murdered by a drunk driver, it’s a punch in the stomach as well ” especially as they are typically parked nearby or outside of our residence by City Market.

You don’t have to be a victim to appreciate the unbelievable stupidity of giving the town’s most notorious drunks a new weapon to drive; you just need to have common sense ” a trait that these people’s enablers are clearly missing. It’s almost as if the enablers of these drunks actually want them to hurt somebody. What were these people thinking? Giving Michael and Jane a new van to drive around in doesn’t help them or anyone else. It just encourages the status quo and enables them to continue drinking in the privacy of their van. In the meantime, those of us that live nearby are in constant danger.

I have nothing against Michael and Jane. In fact, I wish they would embrace the help that is offered to them. It’s not personal. I just refuse to tolerate anyone, regardless of who they are, to blatantly and habitually drink and drive around the block that my family lives on. Would you put up with this?

And as for the smoke-and-mirrors act that is going on between these drunks, their enablers and city officials, it’s time for that to end. Trials are postponed, tickets are repeatedly issued with no consequences, and there is some “dispute” as to whether or not Jane was drunk when she crashed her old van, and whether or not she has a valid driver’s license. What’s the dispute? Was she given a Breathalyzer test (like the rest of us would be) or not? And if not, why not? Was she drunk or not? Does she have a valid license or not? It’s time for this deceptive game to end; and it’s time for MADD to get involved. City officials need to stop coddling these two, start protecting the rest of us, and start treating this situation for what it is: flat-out dangerous.